During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1%Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1%Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.
On the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of over 60 prominent American citizens is calling upon Congress to reopen the investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Signers of the joint statement include Isaac Newton Farris Jr., nephew of Reverend King and past president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Reverend James M. Lawson Jr., a close collaborator of Reverend King; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, children of the late senator. The declaration is also signed by numerous historians, journalists, lawyers and other experts on the four major assassinations. .. . .Four major political murders traumatized American life in the 1960s and cast a shadow over the country for decades thereafter. John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were each in his own unique way attempting to turn the United States away from war toward disarmament and peace, away from domestic violence and division toward civil amity and justice. Their killings were together a savage, concerted assault on American democracy and the tragic consequences of these assassinations still haunt our nation. — A Call to Reinvestigate American Assassinations
Quotes of the Day:
On the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of over 60 prominent American citizens is calling upon Congress to reopen the investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Signers of the joint statement include Isaac Newton Farris Jr., nephew of Reverend King and past president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Reverend James M. Lawson Jr., a close collaborator of Reverend King; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, children of the late senator. The declaration is also signed by numerous historians, journalists, lawyers and other experts on the four major assassinations. .. . .Four major political murders traumatized American life in the 1960s and cast a shadow over the country for decades thereafter. John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were each in his own unique way attempting to turn the United States away from war toward disarmament and peace, away from domestic violence and division toward civil amity and justice. Their killings were together a savage, concerted assault on American democracy and the tragic consequences of these assassinations still haunt our nation. — A Call to Reinvestigate American Assassinations
The Global Warming Treadmill: As Global Warming Increases, the Rate of Global Warming Increases, as Global Warming Increases, the Rate of Global Warming Increases, As Global Warming Increases, the Rate of Global Warming Increases, etc. — Roland Sheppard
The War on Terror’s Total Cost: $5,900,000,000,000000,000,000 And counting. The real question: Is America any safer? By any reasonable estimate, the monetary and human costs of the U.S.-led war on terrorism has been considerable. To the political scientists at Brown University, the numbers have been astronomical. The Ivy League university’s Cost of War Project calculates that Washington will spend approximately $5.9 trillion between FY2001-FY2019, a pot of money that includes over $2 trillion in overseas contingency operations, $924 billion in homeland security spending, and $353 billion in medical and disability care for U.S. troops serving in overseas conflict zones. Add the cost of interest to borrowed money into the equation, and the American people will be paying back the debt for decades to come. By Daniel R. DePetris
Photo Essay: The Military is Poisoning America’s Groundwater America is experiencing one of the greatest public health crises in its history with up to 110 million people potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with Per and Poly Fluoroalkyl Substances, or PFAS. A major source of the chemical contamination comes from the aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) used in routine fire-training on military bases. The military allows the poisons to leach into the groundwater to contaminate neighboring communities which use groundwater in their wells and municipal water systems. The Pentagon assumes no liability and refuses to pay for cleaning up the contamination it has caused. Army Col. Andrew Wiesen, the DOD’s Director of Preventive Medicine for the Office of Health Affairs says the contamination is the responsibility of the EPA. “We don’t do the primary research in this area,” he told the Marine Corps Times. “The EPA is responsible for that,” he said. “DoD has not independently looked at the compounds and does not have “additional research into this, about the health effects of PFOS/PFOA, at least as far as I know.” By Pat Elder
Aqueous film forming foam, or AFFF, leaches into the ground at the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base, Michigan
Environment:
Americans’ climate change concerns surge to record levels, poll shows Total of 72% polled now say global warming is personally important to them, Yale said, as 73% accept it is happeningAmericans’ concerns about climate change have surged to record levels, new polling shows, following a year marked by devastating storms, wildfires and increasingly dire warnings from scientists.By Oliver Milman
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Judy Woodruff: . . . Shortly before his death in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expanded his civil rights campaign to include calls for economic justice. He called for an economic revolution that included protection and services for the poorest Americans. . . . On Martin Luther King Day, we return to a segment we first aired last year, about an effort to revive one of Dr. King’s signature programs, what he called the Poor People’s Campaign. Judy Woodruff sat down withReverend William J. Barber, co-chair of the 2018 organization, to discuss its mission of reducing poverty and inequality and tackling issues of social injustice. . . . Half-a-century later, a group of religious and moral leaders are planning a wave of civil disobedience in Washington, a revival of the Poor People’s Campaign. It’s headed in part by the Reverend William Barber, who’s the co-chair of the campaign. He led demonstrators at a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol this month. And he was arrested, alongside the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a key figure in the 1968 movement. Half-a-century later, a group of religious and moral leaders are planning a wave of civil disobedience in Washington, a revival of the Poor People’s Campaign. Then the original Poor People’s Campaign took place, it was 19 — it was 50 years ago. Dr. Martin Luther King was involved. After he was assassinated, it continued, but what is the connection between then and now? When the original Poor People’s Campaign took place, it was 19 — it was 50 years ago. Dr. Martin Luther King was involved. After he was assassinated, it continued, but what is the connection between then and now? Dr. Martin Luther King was involved. After he was assassinated, it continued, but what is the connection between then and now? Rev. William Barber: Let me say that the connection was, first of all, it did continue, that people realized Dr. King was right. Racism, poverty and militarism were interconnected.The connection today is, we did a study. We did something called the Souls of Poor Folk, auditing America 50 years after the Poor People’s Campaign. What did we find? Today, there are 140 million poor and low-wealth people. Today, there are 250,000 people that die every year from low wealth. We have less voting rights today because of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act than we had in 1965, that we have 62 million people who are working poor, who work less than a living wage, and 14 million children who are in poverty. — On MLK Day, the need for a ‘deeply moral argument’ about American injustice
Kerry Chance: Poverty is criminalized in today’s South Africa
Ray McGovern: RussiaGate “collusiuon” is a crock.
Who Is Kevin Cooper?Editor’s note: Kevin Cooper was convicted of a 1983 quadruple murder and sentenced to death in a trial in which evidence that might have exonerated him was withheld from the defense. His case was scrutinized in a June 17, 2017, New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof. Visit savekevincooper.org for more information. Throughout my life, people have speculated about who Kevin Cooper is, or who they think I am. This is especially true since I was first sought, then arrested, and then wrongly convicted of what was dubbed by the mainstream media as the Chino Hills Murders. It is this horrific crime that sent me to California’s death row and for which I was almost executed in 2004. ByKevin Cooper
Labor:
Thousands of striking Matamoros, Mexico workers march to border to appeal to US workers The strike by 70,000 “maquiladora” workers in Matamoros, Mexico has entered its second week and continues to intensify each day. Yesterday, workers held a protest titled “A Day Without Workers” to demonstrate that it is the working class—not the unions or the bosses—that generates all of society’s wealth. Photos circulating on social media showed deserted factories and union bureaucrats struggling to keep production lines operating after workers put down their tools en masse. Over 50 factories have now stopped production as a result of the strike, costing corporations an estimated $100 million over the course of one week. By Alex González
How workers are winning $15 an hour: by acting like a union When members of Congress introduced legislation this week raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, it was in direct response to demands from people like Frances Holmes, a 55-year-old McDonald’s worker from St. Louis who is paid just $9 an hour. Frances is one of thousands of workers in the Fight for $15 movement who, for the past six years, organized, protested and went on strike demanding $15 an hour and the right to join a union. Frances and her co-workers shined a light on a moral crisis in the American economy: millions of people work hard but don’t get paid enough by big corporations like McDonald’s to provide for their families. By Mary Kay Henry
Economy:
World:
Support the forces of international Marxism!In 2019, humanity faces a turning point. Despite a decade of sacrifice and misery inflicted on the working-class in the name of austerity, nothing has been solved since the financial meltdown of 2008. People are looking for radical solutions and a way of making sense of the chaos and injustice in the world. Capitalism faces the deepest crisis in its history, and politicians have totally lost control of the situation. All over the world, from Brexit, to the Euro Crisis, to Trump, to Bolsonaro and beyond, thepolitical status quo has been rocked to its foundations, and the establishment has been utterly discredited. Ordinary people, bearing no responsibility for this crisis, are forced to shoulder the consequences.
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Jan Resseger: L.A. Teacher Strike Ending, But State Underfunding of Schools Continues Jan Resseger provides a valuable context for understanding the dismal state of public schools in California. They were once the envy of the nation, but now they are desperately underfunded. She writes that the bottom line is the urgent need for a 38 percent increase in California school spending—an additional $25.6 billion—with much of the greatest need in the schools serving California’s poorest students—many of them English language learners. Those numbers are essential background for understanding this month’s teachers’ strike in Los Angeles. California spends somewhat less per pupil than the national average. It spends about the same as South Carolina and Louisiana, which is shocking when you consider that California is the richest state in the nation. — Diane Ravitch’s blog
Black Agenda Radio, Week of January 21, 2019 By Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
